Research Benchmark Servant Leadership and Christianity

Servant Leadership
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According to Greenleaf, a servant leader must possess at least ten qualities, such as empathy, awareness, persuasion, healing, listening, foresight and commitment to the people. The other qualities include stewardship, conceptualization, foresight and building community. Basically, the biblical conceptualization of servant leadership hinges upon the teachings of Christ. They revolve around humility, love, care and dedication. Jesus himself taught about loving one another as oneself, and this is chiefly a prerequisite for servant leadership too.
There are quite some similarities between the perspectives on servant leadership based on the perspectives offered by Greenleaf and those learnt from the bible. The similarity is that they both read from the same notion that servant leadership is a matter of the heart and the best way to really be great. They both perceive servant leadership to be the transfer of authority and power to the people, and not the concentration of power on one individual. A leader is taken simply as an agent or messenger of the people (Greenleaf, 2002).
The differences between these two however, comes in when it comes to the literal aspects of the conceptualization of what is really entailed in servant leadership. In the bible, Jesus indeed demonstrates the servant leadership but in a more peaceful manner. Greenleaf on the other hand, believes that a servant leader is supposed to be a risk taker in some way. The other difference is that Greenleaf’s notion mainly focus on the importance of the little beginnings for a servant leader, while the biblical perspectives provide the chance for one to serve while in any given capacity.
Servant leadership is quite a different dimension of power and authority. It entails all the elements that concern servitude and the act of serving the people diligently. It is quite contrary to the normal style of leadership in the sense that whereas the conventional leadership entails one wielding immense authority and power, servant leadership entails the leader handing the power to the people. Servant leadership discredits the aspect of the domineering figure so often associated with leadership, and makes the people, the real bosses. This paper will look at the interpretations...